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v 3. Y. GARRETT FIRE KINDLER June 3,1924. Re, 15,s51

Original Filed Oct. 29, 1923 gmnnloz R'eiseue'd June 3, 1924.

um'rsn s'rArss WOI Y. cam-n, OI IOUN'I'AIN nm, SOUTH CALOLIHA.

rm mm ml lo. 1,, dated I'ebnary 19, 19M, lerial Io. 671,574, filed October 89, 1958. Application for reissue fled la 1, 1m. lerlal I0. 710,400.

' To an whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Cnaaaxcs Y. Gra am, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fountain Inn in the county of Greenville I and State of outh Carolina, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fire Kmdlers, of which the following is a specification. I

The present invention relates to kinl dlers, and has as its object the rovisionof an article which may be manu actured and.

a for an extended in order that coal may be am aware that fire kindlers are old and well known. For instance, it has been proposed to construct a kindler by treating kindling wood with re s1n' to expel the air and moisture. The ob ect1on to such an article as this is that it is comtively inconvenient to handle, due to the Kctthat the pieces are ordinarily of considerable size. To avoid this objection it has also been proposed to treat pieces of wood of approximately three inches in length and one inch in width; but pieces of this size do not roduce a flame of suflicient length, due to tlie fact that it is diflicult to thoroughly im regnate them with resin and also because the article is not of porous character enabling a draft to pass through the article to lengthen the flame;

Cakes or balls molded from saw-dust or the like, reviously impregnated with resin sted; such kindlers have been unsuccessful, r the reason that the cake or brick is necessarily of very compact character due to the packing of the material, and hence the flame produced is very short.

Again, none of the types of kindlers referred to has been a commercial succew,

or a simi iar substance have also been sug invention is, the extremely porous nature of the brick or cake, which enables the air to pass through the same and form a flame of suflicient length and inteuseitv to ignite hutll anthracite and bituminous coal.

\ As a base for the kindlcr. it is preferable to employ pieces of wood or wood pulp of substantially uniform length therebyinsuring a steady flame. -Wood shavings averaging not less than i of an inch in length and of approximately the same width and thickness have been found to be suitable. By the terms wood or wood pulp as used in both the specification and claims, is meant any woody substance or wood-like material adapted to be formed into particles of the character set forth. This-material is treated with resin or other carbonaceous material so as to thoroughly impregnate and coat the individual particles. In practice I have accomplished this result by mix ing the resin and shavin and, afterwards. heating the mixture untll the resin comes to a boil. By this procedure the individual particles are thoroughly coated and im'pre. nated with the resin, which 'is not ossibi when comparatively" large pieces o material are employed.

After this treatment the shavings or other material are removed and, while hot, moulded into cakes of suitable form and dimensions. The moulding operation should be performed without any substantial pressure in order to produce a cake of very porous character, and the resin, after drying, will cause the particles to adhere to one another. v

In the accompanying drawings there is shown, by way of example, an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a top plan view, and

Figure '2 is a. longitudinal section.

.Referring to the drawings, the body is, in the present instance, composed of wood shavings 10, which it will be noted are of. substantially uniform length, insurlng an even fiame. The shavings, or'such other particles of wood as may be used, are preferably obtained from seasoned ine, which produces a very satisfactory ame. This material is mixed with a suitable carbonaceous impregnating and coating substance, such as resin or a resinous material, and in order to obtain thorough impregnation, the mixture is heated untilthe resin is brought to a boiling point. As an example of a mixture which has been found extremely satisfactory for igniting bituminous coal, the relative percentages of shavings and resin maybe as follows:

, I Per cent. Shavings 42 Resin 58 Per cent. Shavings 25 Resin I For building a wood fire the following mixture will be found to give the desired result:

Per cent. Shavings 75 Resin 25 a From the above examples of kindling cakes, it will be observed that no fixed relation between the amount of resin and shavin is necessary; the relation de ends to a arge extent upon the length of ame desired and the period the kindler must burn before the fire'material is ignited.

After mixing the body material and the resin the mixture is heated until the resin comes to a boil and during the heating the mixture should be stirred so as to insure impregnation ofthe shavings or other wood particles employed.

Subsequentl when theresin comes to a boil, the W0 shavings should be removed and poured into moulds while hot. The character bf the moulds will depend u on the dimensions desired for the indivi ual kindling cakes. In actual practice the cakes such as are shown in the drawings have been reduced; these are approximately three inches in length, an inch and in'width, and an inch thick. When placed in a bed, such a cake will produce a cake over a foot long, and which will burn. steadily for from ten to-fifteen minutes.

When formed, the cakes are removed and suitably formin cause the cake to retain its shape. A very firm and solid article is thus obtained. By

the moulds a central .de-

pression 11 may produced which will per- 'mit the cake to be readily divided, since in building a small fire an entire cake will not be requlred. y

The cake will be found to be of a very porous nature, since the resin, after hardening, leaves numerous interstices between the individual shavings which permit a draft to pass through the article and to lengthen the flame. Unless the article is of porous character a flame of suitable length is not ordinarily obtainable.' Furthermore, the use of comparatively small articles instead of a single strip or piece 0 Wood, ashas been heretofore proposed, renders possible thorough impregnation of the body material. That is to say, small particles of wood, such as shavings, can be thoroughly impregnated, whereas this cannot be readily accomplished with the larger pieces.

It will be understood that by the term porous as applied to the cake, is meant permitted to dry; the resin coating the in- I dividual shavings will, after hardening,

not the pores of the individual wood particles, but the interstices between the independent particles. These interstices are present even before the resin is melted, and increase in number as the resin begins to flow, due to the heat. Further, it will be understood that although I have described the base of the cake as consisting of shavings, this term is used in its broadest sense .to define particles of wood of substantiall the length, width and thickness specifie and not necessarily particles obtained by shaving a larger piece of wood.

The article above described in warmer climates will become sticky, and, therefore, not entirely satisfactory for packing, storin or handling. The higher temperatures tens to melt the resin, causing the cakes to adhere to one another when packed, unless they are separately wrapped, and, when used, tending to soil the hands and clothing.

To avoid this difficulty the cakes after moulding and drying are rovided with a coating 12 of a substance w ich will readily harden. This coating should, preferably, be moisture proof to kee the individual brick or cake dry and rea ily inflammable. Paraffin wax has been found to be entirely suitable for this purpose. The coating may be applied by dipping the cakes in wax and subsequently permitting the same to dry.

It will be understood by the term cake is meant any article having a fixed shape; the same may be round, square or of the shape indicated in the drawings.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture a fire kindler inthe form of a porous cake, composed of wood shavin the individual shavings being thoroug y impregnated and coated with a suitable resinous material.

2. As an article of manufacture a fire kindler in the form of a porous cake, composed of wood shavings, the individual shavings being thorou hly impregnated and coated with a suitab e resinous material, and the cake having a moisture proof coating.

3. As an article of manufacture a fire kindler in the form of a porous cake, composed of wood shavings, the individual shavings being thoroughly impregnated and coated with resin. I

4. As an article of manufacture a fire kindler in the form of a porous cake, composed of wood shavinlgs, the individual shavings being thorough impre nated and coated with resin, and the cake aving a moisture proof coating. k

5. As an article of manufacture, a porous cake composed of particles of wood averaging not more than 1 inch, and not less than i of an inch in length, each particle bein coated and impregnated with a suitable resinous material.

6. As an article of manufacture, a porous cake composed of particles of wood averaging not more than 1 inch, and not less than i of an inch in length, each particle being coated and impregnated with a suitable resinous material, and the cake having a comparatively hard coating.

7. As an article of manufacture, a porous cake composed of particles of wood averag ing not more than 1 inch and not less than i of an inch in length, each particle being coated with resin, the resin serving to retain theparticles together.

8. As an article of manufacture, a porous cake composed of particles of wood averaging not more than 1 ,inch and not less than of an inch in length, each particle being a paraflin coatin coated with resin, the resin servin to retain the particles together and the ea c having 9. The meth of producing a fire kindler, which consists in forming com arativesmall pieces of wood of substantially unil flirm length, impregnating .and coatin the y. 10. The method of producing a fire kindler, which consists in forming comparatively small pieces of wood of substantially uniform len h, impregnating and coatin the pieces with resin by mixin the woo and resin and heating the same a er mixing and then molding the particles into cakes to form a orous body.

i 11. T e method of producing a fire kindler which consists in forming comparatively small pieces of wood of substantially uniform length, impregnatin and coatin the pieces with resin by mixing the W and resin and heating the same and then coatin the cakes with paraflin.

12. e method of producing a fire kindler, which consists in forming comparatively small pieces of wood of substantially uniform length, impre ating and coating the pieces with a sultab ecar onaceous material while the latter is heated and then moldin the particles into porous cakes.

13. dler which consists in orming comparative ly small pieces of wood of substantially uniform length, impre ating and coatingthe pieces with a suitab e carbonaceous material while the latter is heated, then molding the articles into porous cakes, and subsequenty coating the cakesg' v CLARENCE Y. GARRETT.

he method of roducing a fire kin 

